Chris McCormack joined the elite club of the sport's greatest by earning his second Ford Ironman World Championship. Three years after his first victory, a brilliant bike ride upon the ultra-efficient S-Works Shiv, followed by a gutsy run, delivered one of the most thrilling races in recent years, where Macca ran away with the 2010 title.

Quite possibly the deepest field ever had been assembled in Kona this year, with at least 15 men proven potentially capable of grabbing the win. American Andy Potts took the lead during the 2.4 mile swim, and by the time he reached the pier again for the first transition, he had established a 2:30 lead over a good sized group that contained most of the favorites, including Specialized pros Chris McCormack and Rasmus Henning.

Once on the bikes, it didn't take very long for Potts to be caught. The new leader now was Germany's Andreas Boecherer. Not far behind him were Maik Twelsiek, Chris Lieto and Andreas Raelert. Close behind, Macca was biding time in a larger chase group, but the size of that group continued to shrink with riders having to visit the penalty tents and others just not being able to handle the hard pace.

Lieto soon was alone in the lead and eventually arrived back in T2 with a 3:30 lead over Twelsiek and a bit more on Raynard Tissink and Marino Vanhoenacker. Macca and Raelert reached the bike-run transition about eight minutes down, but with the marathon still ahead, eight minutes was not as big a gap as it may have seemed.

Macca looked awesome on the run and caught Lieto about halfway through the decisive marathon. However, Raelert and Vanhoenacker weren't far behind, and both had shown brilliant runs this year.

The drama of the race hit its peak when Raelert caught up to Macca with only a few miles to go, and the two leaders then went stride-for-stride. But, on the Palani downhill run, Macca’s experience, skill, and mental toughness allowed him to get rid of Raelert. From there, Macca ran unchallenged to his second Ford Ironman World Championship title in a superb time of 8:10:37.

Ford Ironman World Championships
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii / October 9, 2010
swim 2.4m / bike 112m / run 26.2m

Top 5 Men
1. Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:10:37
2. Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:12:17
3. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:13:14
4. Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:16:53
5. Raynard Tissink (RSA) 8:20:11

More photos, exclusive video, and interview with Macca coming soon...